Cultural rules and "issues" in the classroom (3)

All of the students in my classroom come from non-English speaking backgrounds and therefore also bring with them into the American classroom a unique cultural experience that varies from student to student. There are high schoolers from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Central Africa, the Ivory Coast, Gabon and many other places that shape who they are and how they will react in certain situations and the cultural rules that they abide by. As mentioned by Lisa Delpit in her article “The Silenced Dialogue” there are codes and rules for the “culture of power” which are a reflection of the ideals of that culture (or white Americans) and if someone enters that culture from an outsider perspective they could get confused by social norms and rules. Many of the students in the classroom are extremely loud, talk over each other, and seem to have disrespect for authority while others sit quietly alone, hardly dare ask to go to the bathroom, don’t stop working during the break, and barely talk even spoken to. Both of these are extremes and of course there are students in the middle, but each student brings some sort of cultural ideology that molded them to act how they act.
Since some of them can barely speak English, it is hard to transfer and teach those cultural codes that Delpit mentions to the students which leads to an oversimplified characterization of someone who might seem rambunctious or socially hermitic. Today “Pepe” got into a small fight with someone who wasn’t from the class. It was obvious to me that it was playful and not life threatening, just a show of machismo that is almost necessary in Hispanic culture. The teacher understood this as I did and split them up, took them aside, and explained the rules of the school to the students and let them go with a warning. If this was to happen in my old High School, they would both probably be sent down to the office to be suspended for a couple days or so. Another girl, “Yaneli,” took out her iPod to show me pictures of her family member’s quinceñera (a sweet sixteen party that brings a woman into adulthood). Instead of telling her to put it away or taking it, I acknowledged the fact that family means something deeper to Latin Americans and that a quinceñera is extremely important to girls, so I looked at her iPod and through a couple pictures, commented and acknowledged my interest, and moved on with her worksheet. This creates a bond between the student and I, it only took a minute of time out of the class, and I didn’t punish her even though it was against school rules to have it out during class. The reason why I didn’t take it away was because she knew what she was doing and in her mind saw it as fine. This means that the rule of the classroom wasn’t clear to her or she doesn’t accept it which also hints towards a misunderstanding of the rules. By understanding Delpit’s idea of cultural power, a teacher can gain respect in the classroom, create a bond with the students, and teach or even better the understanding of those cultural rules and why they are in place.